LENScience

Senior Biology Seminar Series

The LENScience Connect Senior Biology Seminar Series brings Year 13 students from throughout New Zealand together for regular seminars, designed to provide learning extension opportunities that link current New Zealand scientific research to concepts in the school curriculum.

The seminars are broadcast via both Satellite Television and the High Speed KAREN National Education Network.

Web2.0 tools (Wiki and live chat) create interactivity between students and scientists, and between students and teachers in participating schools.

There is no charge to schools for participating in this award winning education programme, however schools must register and agree to the terms and conditions.

Learn more about how schools are utilising the LENScience Connect Senior Biology Seminar Series resources in their extension programmes for students.

Tony Cairns, Year 13 Biology Teacher and Scholarship Tutor, Wellington High School

We use and enjoy the LENScience Senior Biology Seminars in our Scholarship programme. We distribute the pre-seminar questions at least a week before the students meet. On Tuesday afternoon after school we view the seminar presentation and discuss the topic in detail. Students give us their written answers to the pre-seminar questions and we co-construct model answers and advise on how to best answer the questions. After the seminar we distribute post-seminar questions and they complete these for the next session. We link the LENScience material to our Scholarship Pinterest and Moodle sites. All students appreciate the LENScience Senior Biology Seminars and they are the basis for our Scholarship Programme.

Terry Burrell, Learning Area Leader Science, Onslow College

At Onslow College we have used parts of several of the seminars within regular classes at Level 3 Biology, specifically the Gene Expression and Circadian Rhythms seminars, as they fit well within our usual teaching topics. Students value from hearing directly from scientists about their research in real contexts and see how data is used to explore new ideas.

Our extension/scholarship group makes use of the series on a revolving programme in which students download and read the pre-seminar reading one week then meet to discuss it prior to watching the seminar the following week after school.

Following the seminar, the group agrees on a question they will write about, then they meet again to share their writing and they peer critique one another's efforts. In some ways it is valuable to be able to set our own schedule of seminars now, picking and choosing from the bank available on the LENScience website. We are able to select seminars that relate to our current teaching topic and thus students can extend their studies alongside their regular lessons.

We have begun a student book group as well at Onslow College and can select a book topic that fits with the seminars.